Hulbert v. Givens

1964 OK 115, 392 P.2d 729, 1964 Okla. LEXIS 340
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 27, 1964
Docket40336
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1964 OK 115 (Hulbert v. Givens) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hulbert v. Givens, 1964 OK 115, 392 P.2d 729, 1964 Okla. LEXIS 340 (Okla. 1964).

Opinion

IRWIN, Justice.

Jack R. Givens, Administrator of the Estate of Charles Noble Simon, deceased, for and on behalf of the heirs, devisees and legatees named in the will of deceased, commenced proceedings against Corwin L. Hul-bert, referred to as defendant, to cancel a deed conveying certain property in Grady County. The deed is in favor of the defendant and the grantor is shown to be Charles N. Simon, the decedent. It was executed and acknowledged on March 15, 1958, and the Administrator of his Estate challenged the validity of the deed and sought to cancel the same on the grounds that the deed was not signed by the decedent and the signature thereon was not that of the decedent.

Luther Merle Simon, nephew of decedent and cousin of defendant, who was devised a remainder in the property under the will of decedent, filed a petition in intervention to cancel a quit claim deed to the property. The quit claim deed is in favor of the defendant and was executed by Intervenor and his wife. Intervenor’s petition is based on the grounds that the quit claim deed was obtained by false and fraudulent representations and was without consideration.

The trial court found the deed from the decedent to defendant does not bear the genuine signature of decedent and said deed should be cancelled; and, that the deed from Intervenor and his wife to the defendant was obtained by reason of defendant’s false and fraudulent representations and without adequate consideration and should be can-celled.

The judgment of the trial court cancelled the two deeds and quieted title in the property in favor' of the Administrator and Intervenor against the defendant. Defendant perfected this appeal from the order overruling his motion for a new trial.

FACTS

We will first consider the evidence concerning the Administrator’s action against the defendant.

The record discloses that Charles Noble Simon, the decedent whose signature was allegedly forged on the deed in question, was approximately eighty years old at the time of his death on August 10, 1958. He had been a practicing attorney and was living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with his sister, Sadie Simon.

Defendant lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, and was a nephew of decedent. Defendant’s mother, a sister of decedent, became critically ill in the early part of 1958, and decedent and his sister Sadie went to Lincoln, Nebraska, to be with her. Defendant’s mother died and decedent and his sister Sadie remained in Lincoln because while they were there, Sadie fell and broke her hip. While decedent and Sadie were in Lincoln, the deed in question was allegedly executed and delivered by decedent to defendant on March 15, 1958.

*732 Sadie testified while she was confined in a hospital at Lincoln because of her broken hip, decedent told her that he was going to deed the property in question to the defendant. In the trial of the cause, Sadie testified by deposition and stated the signature on the deed was that of decedent.

The Administrator, testified on rebuttal, that after he had received a photostatic copy of the deed after it had been filed for record, he showed the same to Sadie; that Sadie told him that decedent “never signed his name like that in his life” and that she didn’t know anything about the deed. The Administrator also stated that Sadie had formerly testified (a recording of this was introduced in evidence) that defendant was dishonest and that she wanted to get in touch with her brother and his boys and that they would fight defendant to the finish. The Administrator said she later came to his office with the defendant and stated that she had been mistaken and the signature on the deed was that of decedent; that on February 11, I960, she called him and said defendant had made an assignment of the rents from the farm and she wanted him to examine it and see if she was protected; that she also said, “you just remember this; Charlie Simon didn’t sign that deed”. Under the will of decedent, Sadie was to’ have a life estate in the farm.

Defendant testified that decedent stayed at his home while he was in Lincoln and typewriters were available to the decedent; that on March IS, 1958, he and decedent walked down town and had gone for the purpose of consulting an attorney about the advisability of bringing a malpractice suit against a certain doctor in Lincoln, who had previously performed an operation on decedent. Defendant testified that they first went to the office of an attorney named Marx and that Marx refused to consider bringing the malpractice suit.

In connection with this testimony, attorney Marx testified by deposition and stated that he had never met decedent; that he had never heard of the proposed malpractice suit against the doctor; and that he had been, in effect, on strained terms with the defendant because of certain litigation against the defendant. The substance of Marx’s testimony was that defendant would not consult him for legal services; that he did not remember the alleged incident concerning defendant’s and decedent’s alleged visit to his office and had defendant and decedent actually been to his office and consulted him, he would have remembered it.

Defendant further testified that after he and decedent left Marx’s office they walked to another attorney’s office and they consulted the attorney about the advisability of bringing the malpractice suit; that after that conversation was over, decedent asked the attorney to acknowledge the deed; that after the deed was signed by decedent and acknowledged by the attorney-notary, decedent handed the deed to him. In some portions of defendant’s testimony, he indicates that he placed the deed in a sealed envelope and then placed it in his pocket, and his other evidence indicates that he put the deed in his pocket with other papers.

Defendant further testified that after he and decedent left the attorney’s office, the decedent went to defendant’s home and that he went to his place of business and put the deed in his safe and that the same remained there until he withdrew it for the purpose of filing on April 13, 1959. An examination of the deed discloses that all parts of the deed were typed, including the dates of execution and acknowledgment, except the alleged signature of the decedent, the signature of the notary and the expiration date of the notary’s commission. However, the evidence discloses that all typed portions of the deed were not typed at the same time as an additional typed portion was added.

Some parts of defendant’s testimony tends to establish that the deed was given to him in consideration of $1.00 (which he said he paid) and love and affection, while other parts of his testimony tends to establish that the deed was given to him as payment and satisfaction of debts owing to defendant by decedent. In this connection, *733 the record contains two promissory notes, one in the amount of $5,000.00, dated June 28, 1953, and one in the amount of $12,000.-00, dated November 25, 1957. Both of these notes were executed by the use of a rubber stamp bearing a facsimile of decedent’s signature. Sadie Simon was the witness on one of the notes and defendant’s secretary was the witness on the other. Neither witness testified concerning the execution of these notes.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1964 OK 115, 392 P.2d 729, 1964 Okla. LEXIS 340, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hulbert-v-givens-okla-1964.